The Halloween Kids Pilot
The pilot was completed in 1998. It was directed by Elliot Strange, and written by Howard Stemple, Zelda Artz-Stemple and Dub Goras, going by a draft Strange wrote. Plot In a small suburban neighborhood, a group of adults discuss a TV show that had been out for a month. They're mixed on it, not having any objective issues with it, but note that a lot of people seem to hate it. The son of one of the adults, Jody, goes to talk to his mother and hopes to get in on the conversation, but is shooed away. Jody goes to talk to his friends, where we see he's part of his school's clique. They know full well about the show; an action comedy where one character is ragged on constantly. They don't care for the show, but disagree with the hate it has received. They come across a fellow student, Glen, who sympathizes with the abused character. He is told not to stress over it, but becomes livid over the statement, leading to mockery. Later on, Glan watches the show and goes into an emotional fit when the character goes through more torment, only to get harshly silenced by his parents. Glen's obsession carries over to school the next day, where it causes him to fail an essay assignment and get into fights. Later, news surfaces over where the show is being made and a protest is planned. The adults and clique join forces to visit the area and hopefully make it on television. Glen learns of this and fears that they would further encourage the abuse of the character, but then realizes he could potentially save him. Glen sneaks onto a truck everyone takes to the station it airs and everyone finds that all that's present is a building with a giant window screening the show. No one is able to get in, but Glen hurls himself through and finds himself unable to get back out. Glan attacks an oppressor to the abused character, but is shocked to learn that the abused is actually a monster and he gets eaten. Trivia * The pilot is an adaptation of a story in the Halloween Gang series of graphic novels (namely the twelfth, CRT Massacre.) * It would later be remade into Unusual Suspects. * Jody and Judy are notably on better terms than in episodes preceding Bad Seeds of Doubt. This is attributable to Dub Goras who mainly wrote their parts as he wasn't clear on the relationship between the two. This was corrected, but Strange would change it back later on. * The animation was produced by Rough Draft Studios. * Music used: **Pretty Noose by Soundgarden. **The Box by Snot. **Mind by System of a Down. **By the Way by No Doubt. **Give by Cold. **Fly by Nickelback. **Down on the Farm by U.K. Subs. *Lights Out would use the music featured in the pilot (but Down on the Farm was replaced by Guns N' Roses' cover) Differences * Belbury isn't mentioned by name. It's suggested the town is somewhere along the midwest, with some clues indicating it's in either North or South Dakota. * Jody doesn't wear a long-sleeve shirt beneath his collared shirt. * Judy wears a tank top beneath her jacket (attributed to the animators wanting to simplify her design.) This was brought back in episode 3 of the series. * Randy had shorter hair, compared to his final look in the actual show. * A running gag throughout the pilot is that Judy is insecure over the size of her posterior. * In earlier drafts, Jody and Judy were named Nicholas and Nicole respectively. This was changed before the voices were recorded. * Glan appears in this and is referred to as "Glen." His name change was supposedly due to a typo that went unnoticed.